by Alex Wolf
He starts to say something, but I cut him off.
“Be at five hundred west Fullerton. Seven pm.” I storm out of the conference room before he can say anything else.
I shouldn’t do this, but I am. He needs to know, so he’ll stop this childish crap. Deep down, I know he deserves the information after everything he confided in me the other night. He told me some big secrets.
Plus, I think part of me wants him to have some kind of leverage over me, so I won’t be tempted to use his information against him.
Deep down, somewhere in my heart, I know the real reason I’m doing this. The truth. It’s because I like him. I like him a lot.
Wells Covington
What kind of shithole did Meadow bring me to?
I look around before walking in. The building is dilapidated, surprisingly not condemned, and I’m pretty sure it smells like animal piss, just from looking at it from the curb. Everyone has been in a building like this before. You know what it smells like. None of the lights seem to work on the outside, the door is cockeyed. I walk up the small stoop to the entrance, praying this fucking thing doesn’t collapse on me.
Don’t get me wrong, there are opportunities in things that are broken. I haven’t written off what she has planned—yet. It’s just not my idea of a good time to go traipsing through death traps. Part of it is the uncertainty. I don’t know what she’s up to. What I do know is she shouldn’t be in a goddamn place like this during the day, let alone when the sun is about to set on it. Chicago is dangerous at night.
I plan to let her know exactly how reckless it is, no matter how pissed off she wants to act toward me. I make my way through the slanted door with paint all stripped off.
“You’re five minutes late.” The words come from the shadows.
It startles me a little, but I play it off and look around the hall. Thank God there are a couple of functioning lights, even though Meadow chose not to stand in any of them. I know it’s purposeful. This whole situation is of her design.
I crane my head around. “Lucky I stepped into the fucking building.”
She emerges from the shadows, and immediately my adrenaline spikes. What is it about being in a room with this woman that drives me insane? Action potentials fire across my synapses, reminding me of every minute detail of our kiss, how her tongue felt, her ass in the palm of my hand, her ragged breaths when she pushed away from me, the undeniable look in her eyes.
She smirks, not taking the bait. “Follow me.” She walks with confidence.
Instinctively, I take off after her, realizing the effect she has on me in the process. It’s psychological warfare on a scale unimagined with her, but I don’t mind the games. I welcome them. My life hasn’t been boring for one second since I met her. I feel alive for the first time in forever. It used to be investments, wealth accumulation, outthinking opponents, that held one hundred percent of my attention.
Now it’s Meadow Carlson.
We turn a few corners and walk through a door into an office.
A man and a woman sit there, fidgeting nervously with their hands.
They’re a thousand times easier to read than Meadow. Both lean in when I walk into the room. This is a huge opportunity for them. I’m about to hear some kind of pitch.
My eyes narrow on Meadow when she turns around.
Is it really just about money with her? Is that all she wants? Use me for my capital for whatever this is? I told her she could have that damn building; I’m just using it to frustrate her a little. It’s impossible for me to think she’s misread our situation. The probability is less than one percent. So what the fuck is happening?
Before I can get a word out, she says, “Just hear me out. Don’t be an asshole.”
The other two pairs of eyes in the room widen.
“This is Martha and John Freeport.”
I turn to them. “Nice to meet you.” My eyes dart back to Meadow. “What is this?”
“The reason I want your building. I want you to know the purpose, so you’ll stop fucking with me.”
She has my motives confused. I want to fuck her. Fucking with her is a means to achieve that. I don’t say it, of course.
“You had no problem fucking with my money, but now, I’m supposed to what? Show some kind of mercy? Sympathy? Understand?”
Martha and John glare at Meadow this time. A surprising turn of events. So, they didn’t know what she was doing to secure the property? Interesting, but I’m not surprised. I can tell they’re philanthropists and not investors. They both have dirty fingernails, calloused hands. They’re honest, hardworking people who would never do the types of things Meadow and I are capable of.
“What’s he talking about?” Martha asks.
Meadow, for the first time since I’ve met her, looks somewhat ashamed and almost trips over her words.
“It’s nothing. Water under the bridge.” I stare at Meadow the entire time I say the words.
Meadow seems to thank me with those eyes of hers and doesn’t miss a beat. “This place is theirs.”
I turn to them. “Congratulations.” I don’t hide the sarcasm in my voice.
“Look, Covington, they built this from nothing. So, while it may not seem like much to you, it’s everything to them.”
“Is someone going to tell me exactly what this place is?”
John turns to me. He looks like an honorable man. When you deal with enough assholes trying to rip you off at every turn, get some kind of edge on you, you learn to recognize genuineness the second you see it. He says, “It’s a shelter. We provide subsidized housing and services for low-income families.”
“Section eight?”
“Yes, but we’ve managed to secure funding from our donors that cover the costs one hundred percent.”
“They want the building you’re trying to turn into high-rise condos.” Meadow’s commanding voice takes over the conversation. “I have investors and philanthropists on board. Everything is on track. But you came in and paid above market value for the property. We couldn’t compete with the price.”
I’m sure they couldn’t. That’s the problem with philanthropy. It can’t compete with profit-seeking entities at scale.
I understand Meadow is trying to save the world with venture capital, but the market works how the market works. I have a feeling if these people knew half the shit she’s pulled, they’d drop her in a heartbeat, but fuck me if I want to spare her that. I want to tell myself I don’t know why my behavior changes around her, my entire existence, but I know. I both hate and love that about her. She’s the only person who has ever made me behave irrationally, and it’s kind of refreshing in a weird way. It humanizes me.
“So, you want me to scrap my high rise so you can convert it into a shelter?”
Meadow hands me a packet of information. “A state-of-the-art shelter. It’s never been done before. It’ll be the nicest and largest of its kind. Read the mission and projections. The math all works out, I did it myself. Investors are on board, grants are lined up. This will help reintegrate struggling people back into society, get them on their feet. Help working-class families who are economically displaced feel like they have worth again. Help their children—”
I stare at her, effectively telling her to stop pulling on my heartstrings, as if that would possibly work, then thumb through the pages, scanning. Meadow’s lips curl into a smile, most likely surprised I’m even looking at it.
My brain immediately shifts from lovestruck mode to investment mode. “Most of these people have probably been let go because jobs have become automated or outdated. The next five years might possibly be worse than the industrial revolution. This creates enormous risk for something of this magnitude. It’s a scale only the federal government could impact, not a private enterprise. Not to mention the elites downtown who don’t want a bunch of poverty-stricken people clogging up the city more than they already do.”
John and Martha’s heads drop, as if they know this is true a
nd want to give it a try anyway. Meadow’s eyes harden. I didn’t mean to be so blunt, but someone needs to acknowledge risks. You can’t sugarcoat investment strategy. The market will eat you alive on passion projects like these.
“We already have training and education services in line, networks for jobs set up.”
“It’s a loser, Meadow, and you know it.” I cringe a little at my words. I would never cringe like that if my own people brought this to me. It’s one of the drawbacks of impact investments. You get emotionally involved.
“We have to try.” John looks up at me. “What does this say about us as people if we don’t try to make things better. You look like a man who has taken on risk before. You had to, to get to where you are. Tell me this isn’t a worthy risk.”
I glance back and forth at the three of them. “I’ll think about it. That’s the only promise I can make.” I turn and walk out of the room.
Three steps into the hall and I can already hear Meadow’s footsteps pounding after me. Fuck, I love her tenacity. How can I channel that energy and focus onto me? Onto us?
When I get to the front of the building, about to walk out, I hear, “We had a fucking deal.”
I freeze in my tracks and smile. I finally have her alone again. Slowly, I school my features and turn back around to face her. “I said I’d think about it. You’re lucky you’re getting that.”
“Why are you such an asshole?”
I step toward her and lean down so we’re eye to eye. Normal Meadow is amazing, but pissed-off Meadow is intoxicating. “Because I can be. You know that.”
She regards me for a long moment, then something changes. Her entire demeanor. She folds her arms across her chest and pushes her tits together. I don’t think she realizes she does it, but my dick damn sure does.
“You’re in.”
“Excuse me?”
“You knew before you walked in here, that you were going to say yes.”
There she is. She knows, but I’m still going to make her work a little more for it. “I’ve never taken a loss on a project because it was the right thing to do.”
She takes a step closer. “You’re about to take that risk, though. I can see it in your eyes. In every one of your actions. Your mouth runs on and on.” She takes another step, so she’s dangerously close to me. “But your actions, they speak much louder.”
Since we’re getting everything out in the open, perhaps I’ll hit back just as hard. “You’re right.”
Her eyes pop open, like she hadn’t expected the admission.
“But before I commit, I want to know something in return.”
She relaxes a little, as if she’s letting her guard down for the first time around me. “What do you want to know?”
“What’s going on with you?”
Her eyes dart around. “What do you mean? This project. It means a lot to me.”
I shake my head and take another step to close the distance between us, because I want to be closer to her, and I don’t like that she backed away from me. “No. There’s something else.” My eyes rake up and down her. “Something that has nothing to do with this. Something personal.”
Meadow looks away.
I reach over and with a finger under her chin, I turn her head back to face me. I see it in her eyes the second they land on mine, and a rage builds inside me. A rage I didn’t know I was capable of, that I’ve never felt before. There’s sadness there, and I want to punish and destroy whatever has caused it. “Tell me.”
She shakes her head and her eyes well up just slightly. “Don’t. It’s not part of the deal.”
I push a few strands of hair behind her ear. “Of course it is.”
“What?”
“None of this other shit matters to me. That building is immaterial. I could lose that money a thousand times over and be fine. It’s all just a means to get you. You are the deal for me.”
I lean down to kiss her, but she stops me.
Our foreheads meet, and I stare into her eyes. “I want you.” My hands slide down and find her hips. I dig my fingers in, letting her know exactly what I want. The only goddamn thing I want. “I’ll do anything to have you. Tell me what’s wrong.”
Her eyes close then open again. “I said it’s off limits.”
“You don’t understand, Meadow.” I pull her over into the shadows on the side of the building, and my hand hikes up her skirt. I cup her pussy in my palm, and I can feel the heat radiating through her panties. She can glare at me with those eyes all she wants, but she can’t hide how turned on she is right now, how much she wants this too.
Her chest heaves up and down. She’s both scared and excited. I can see it in her eyes, feel it vibrating through her body.
“I don’t just want this.” I squeeze her a little harder.
She gasps against my lips.
“I want all of you. Your problems, your laughter, I want it all. And I’ll do anything to get it. I’ll buy a thousand shitty buildings if that’s what it takes.”
Meadow’s brows knit together, and she stares straight into my eyes. “I don’t want to talk about what’s bothering me, right now.”
I start to let go of her, but her hips surge, grinding her pussy against my hand. It’s almost unbearable, the urge to take her right now, in front of the world.
“That doesn’t mean I won’t open up about it later. It’s new, and I just want to forget about it for five minutes.”
My heart comes alive. She basically just said she wants to share with me when the time is right. That’s fair.
I move in to kiss her again, but she starts to speak.
“One other thing.”
Our lips are inches apart, and I nod a little against her forehead as if to say, go on.
“Business and sex is separate. You don’t use your wealth to get what you want with me. I’m not a whore.”
This time I mash my lips against hers. It’s even hotter than the kiss in my office. I slide her panties to the side and take two fingers deep, then kiss up the side of her neck to her ear. Her pussy is hot and wet and constricts. I think about how good it would feel to have it wrapped around my dick as she comes over and over.
In her ear, I whisper, “Understood.” I circle her clit with my thumb and a shiver rips through her body. “But I have two conditions of my own.”
“Making unproportionate demands. Why would I expect anything less? What are they?” Her words come out on ragged breaths.
Exhaling in her ear, I say. “This is mine.” I circle her clit even harder.
Meadow nods and looks like she’s about to pass out but manages to whisper, “The second?”
“You’re right, you’re not a whore.” I take my fingers deep and curl them up to hit the ridge deep inside her.
She gasps, audibly. “Shit.”
“But the second we get home, I’m going to fuck you like one.” I slide my fingers out of her and take her by the hand, leading her to my car.
She follows.
Wells Covington
Meadow’s place is closer, so that’s where we go.
The drive seemed to take forever, even though it was approximately five minutes through downtown. We pull up to her high rise and it’s still fairly modest, like I remember.
I park in the garage and we’re both out of the car, hands all over each other on the way up to her apartment. I don’t want her to think about what we’re doing for a second longer than she has to. A million things could happen in the span of the next three minutes that could keep me from fucking her. I won’t allow that.
I know Meadow wants this as much as I do, but there’s still something going on with her. Something unrelated to this shit going on between us. Honestly, I don’t even know why I give a fuck. I shouldn’t. Still, it bothers me. I don’t like to see her hurting.
Sex has always been a transaction with me. A very fun, exhilarating one, to say the least. But I never give up a part of myself. There’s no real connection.
This is different.
I’m one hundred percent on a mission to make Meadow come all over my face, multiple times. As far as I’m concerned, this is all a test. It’s evolutionary biology in its purest form. I need to show her I’m the most suitable mate possible for her. I need to perform at my peak, to let her know no other man could ever satisfy her the way I’m about to. There can be no doubt left behind when we’re done.
I glance down, and our eyes lock as she leads me to her front door.
There won’t be.
I’m going to ruin her for any man that dares to come near her after tonight. If something goes south between us, if it doesn’t work out, she’ll still think about me any time someone else is around. I will be the benchmark, and nobody will ever measure up.
Her Bluetooth door unlocks when we’re about five feet away, and I yank her up against the wall, effectively pinning her against it.
Before she can react, I take both her wrists and shove them above her head, then trail kisses down her neck. “Last chance.”
She knows exactly what I mean. I’m offering her an out. I’ve never done this before, but I want no doubt left that she chooses this willfully. That she chooses me. Wants to be with me.
“I made my decision a long time ago, Covington, before tonight. You know this.”
I smile against her neck. Fuck, she has no idea how happy those words make me. Humans are weird. We can know something with almost one hundred percent certainty, feel it in our bones, but when it comes to things like relationships, emotions, you still have to hear the other person admit it out loud before your soul will accept it. We’re all illogical creatures scrambling to figure out life.
I work my way to her ear. “Just so we’re clear, when I walk through that door, I’m in. It’s more than sex.” I push my chest harder against her and damn near growl my words in her ear. “You’re mine.” I bite down lightly on her ear lobe the second I say it. “I’m not just someone you fuck.”
“Holy shit.” She exhales the word, then nods lightly. “Okay.”
That’s all I needed.
